BALTIMORE -- Officials in Baltimore were investigating an incident in which a threatening note and a piece of rope were found at a city fire station.

Two paramedics said they found the note, which pictured a drawing of a stick figure hanging by a noose, The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.

Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman, said the piece of rope was not a noose but it had a knot in it.

Henry Burris, president of the Vulcan Blazers, an association of black firefighters, told the Sun he was told the note read: "We can't hang the cheaters, but we can hang the failures."

He said "cheaters" was probably a reference to an investigation into allegations that some firefighters cheated on a promotion test in July.

The paramedics found the note attached to the piece of rope in their bunk room when they returned from a call early Wednesday. After they reported it to a supervisor, a battalion chief came to the fire house and questioned all employees, before ordering each to write a report, Cartwright told the newspaper.